It’s generally unclear what’s causing tinnitus (a buzzing or ringing in your ears). However, there is one thing experts agree on: you are more likely to experience tinnitus if you also suffer from hearing loss. According to HLAA as much as 90 percent of people who experience tinnitus also have hearing loss.
Your age, lifestyle, and genetics can all take part in the development of hearing loss as you most likely know. Often, moderate instances of hearing loss go unnoticed and hearing loss, in general, isn’t always obvious. Worse, even a minor case of hearing loss raises your risk and likelihood of developing tinnitus.
Hearing Aids Won’t Cure Tinnitus But They Will Help
Tinnitus doesn’t have a cure. However, your symptoms can be reduced and your life can be improved by using hearing aids to address your hearing loss and tinnitus. Sixty percent of people coping with tinnitus, in fact, experienced relief of their symptoms, and twenty-two had considerable improvement.
A traditional hearing aid can essentially hide the ringing or buzzing caused by tinnitus by strengthening your ability to hear outside sounds, which essentially drowns out the ringing. And, fortunately, traditional hearing aids aren’t the only solution as more sophisticated treatment methods are being produced.
Types of Specialty Hearing Aids to Reduce Tinnitus Symptoms
Hearing aids increase the level of environmental sounds to the point that you can hear them clearly. This simple technology is critical in teaching your hearing to receive specific stimulation by amplifying sounds like the clattering of a ceiling fan or the rabble of a dinner party.
You can take an even more complete approach to your tinnitus management by enhancing hearing aids with other strategies, like stress reduction, sound stimulation, and counseling.
Fractal tones and irregular rhythms are even being utilized by some hearing aid manufacturers. The persistent tone of tinnitus can be interrupted by the irregular tones of these inconsistent rhythms.
Blending the natural sounds you hear with your tinnitus sounds is the objective of other sophisticated hearing aid options. Your condition and ear have very personal needs and this approach will use a personalized white noise that will be calibrated by your hearing specialist.
Whether you use sound therapy, blending, or a white noise mechanism, all of these specialized technologies have a common aim of distracting the attention away from the buzzing or ringing of tinnitus.
Hearing aids can improve quality of life and reduce symptoms of tinnitus even if there isn’t any cure.
References
- https://www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/HLAA_HearingLoss_Facts_Statistics.pdf?pdf=FactStats
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17956798
- https://www.ata.org/managing-your-tinnitus/treatment-options/hearing-aids
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6197965